Helping Verbs

These do just what their name implies. They help the main verb in the sentence by telling us more about its tense and the subtleties of its meaning. The main verb will be either an action verb or a linking verb. You'll find more on those verbs below.

The helping verb(s) and the main verb come together to form a verb phrase. Here is a list of 24 common helping verbs. Use the list of verbs and this lovely song to memorize them. (Listen to me sing the song in the video!)

Greta will love these sausages.

Will is a helping verb. It is helping the main verb (love), which is an action verb. The verb phrase is will love.

Action Verbs

As their name implies, action verbs show action. Keep in mind that action doesn't always mean movement.

Talia thought about bears.

In that example, the verb thought doesn't show movement, but it is still an action verb. There are many, many action verbs. Here's a small list of verbs that show action.

clean

cut

drive

eat

fly

go

live

make

play

read

run

shower

sleep

smile

stop

sweep

swim

think

throw

trip

walk

wash

work

write

If you've checked out this site much, you know that I think sentence diagramming rules when it comes to teaching and learning grammar. Sentence diagramming is a way to visually show how all of the words in the sentence are related to each other.

All verbs are diagrammed on a horizontal line after the subject. A vertical line separates the subject from the verb, and the rest of the sentence depends on the type of verb you are diagramming. Let's look at the different kinds of action verbs!

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